Rovers will race to Moon in first ever lunar ‘Formula 1 kind of contest'

A “full-on Formula 1 kind of race” on the surface of the Moon is to be held as soon as next year. Private rovers will fight to grab the Google Lunar XPRIZE of $30 million.

Two companies leading in the competition – the Pittsburgh-based
Astrobotic and Japanese rover-developer HAKUTO – have agreed to
simultaneously release their rovers. The expect both machines to
land on the Moon's surface at the same time.

"Once all the rovers are released and everyone's turned on
and initiated...we'll line the rovers up, and then the green flag
will go up, and the race is on. It'll be like a full-on Formula
One kind of race on the surface of the moon,” John Thornton,
head of Astrobotic, told Popular Mechanics.

To win the $30 million prize, the teams must land a rover safely
on the Moon, move it 500 meters on the Moon’s surface, and send
back a video in HD quality.

Between the two companies, three rovers are being sent to the
Moon – Astrobotic’s Andy and HAKUTO’s Moonraker and Tetris. They
will be competing against each other, as well as against another
16 teams taking part in the race.

The engineers are comparing the race to NASCAR and Formula 1,
though the maximal speed will be much lower. For instance, Andy’s
speed is seven inches (17.78 cm) per second.

The rovers will communicate with the spacecraft, which will
transmit the data back to the Earth.

The main aim of the rovers is surface exploration and to search
for caves that could become bases for humans on the Moon in the
future.

“Our goal is to successfully create a commercial capability
to fly and deliver payload to the moon,” Thornton said.
“We will have achieved that goal whether we have some of the
winnings of the prize, or a lot of the winnings of the prize, or
maybe none of the winnings of the prize."

The race is planned for the second half of 2016, and is set to
end on December 31 of next year.

"We will secure a launch vehicle when we have all the
payloads booked," Thornton said. "What we don't want to
do is get in a scenario where we secure the launch too quickly
and we burn funds and run out of runway."

The partnership between Astrobotic and Hakuto will allow both
teams to share the cost of flying to the moon atop the SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket. However, a contract has not yet been signed.

The teams have agreed to share the prize money if one of them
wins. The agreement seems to be useful for both parties; HAKUTO
is focusing on rover development, while Astrobotic is working on
both a lander and a rover.

"We decided not to develop a lander," HAKUTO’s Takeshi
Hakamada said. "We have to choose a lander. The reason why we
chose Astrobotic is partly that we are planning to explore the
lunar caves, the skylights. Astrobotic also has a plan to land
close to a skylight."

The agreement of the two companies has not been a problem for the
race organizers.

Meanwhile, Astrobotic insists the prize money isn't the most
important element.

The Google XPRIZE was
first announced in 2007. The prize fund consists of the first
place prize of $20 million, the second of $5 million, and several
additional prizes totaling $5 million. If any government takes
part in the project with more than 10 percent participation, the
first prize will be only $15 million.